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Tom Hamilton
ZURICH, Switzerland — In the hours following England‘s 2-1 defeat to France in their opening game of Euro 2025, Lucy Bronze spoke to her exhausted, desolate teammates and told them about a game a decade ago: 1-0 defeat to France in the opening match of the 2015 World Cup.
Four weeks later, England took the bronze medal with a 1-0 win over Germany. There are tales from the past to boost English hopes, but the Lionesses are also painfully aware they are already one more poor performance away from an early exit.
England’s Euro 2025 hopes are teetering on the edge of the group-stage precipice. If the Lionesses lose to Netherlands in Group D on Wednesday, and France beat Wales, then the reigning champions would be out of the tournament.
“If we’re not good enough on Wednesday then we don’t deserve to continue in the tournament,” midfielder Georgia Stanway said on Monday.
For all the talk of this being a “new England” looking to create a special type of history in becoming the first English side to win a major tournament on foreign soil, it would instead be a competition ending prematurely in ignominy. However, 20 minutes with Stanway on Monday was enough to give you an insight into the bubbling anger within this group, and their desire to put things right after that chastening defeat to France.
Leah Williamson described their defending as “cheap” and “emotional;” Jess Carter said England were “a little bit scared;” manager Sarina Wiegman pointed to their misfiring short passing game at the root of their defeat; while Lauren Hemp said they didn’t find their usual “quality of possession” and made “mistake after mistake.”
One source said that some players had felt almost fearful, as the pressure of the situation weighs on their shoulders. Whatever the reason, they simply cannot afford the same to happen on Wednesday in the same stadium in Zurich. “We have to be brave and ruthless. You can see, even in spells against France, that urgency and desperation towards the end of scoring,” Stanway said. “We need that for 90 minutes.”
Discussions within the squad have been calm and measured. The players have been honest about where things went wrong with one another, and all have vowed to raise their own performances a level or two. They recognised the need to improve the quality of their passing, and the need to give more help to the midfield two of Keira Walsh and Stanway on either side of the ball. But above all, the defeat stung. Pride and hope had been dented — a feeling this group isn’t used to. Stanway was still visibly angry at how things panned out, especially with her own performance.
This is uncharted territory for England. The concept of them leaving the tournament in the group stage seems inconceivable given all the success they’ve experienced under Wiegman, having won Euro 2022 and reached the World Cup final in 2023.
This is also a new scenario for Wiegman: heading into Saturday’s match, she’d won all 12 of her European Championship matches as manager, leading the Dutch to the Euro 2017 title and England to Euro 2022. But now England (ranked 5th by FIFA) have their backs against the wall for the first time at a major tournament under Wiegman. There was always recognition that Group D — with France (ranked 10), Netherlands (11) and Wales (30) — was going to be troublesome, but equally, the expectation within the squad and inside the England FA was that they have a team heading to Switzerland to defend their title.
But there are few better teams to prepare for than the Dutch. Wiegman knows them extremely well — her assistant Arjan Veurink will coach the Netherlands team after the end of this tournament — but it is a match that could be decided by the flip of a coin. Since the World Cup final, England have faced Netherlands twice. The Dutch won 2-1 in Utrecht in Sept. 2023, with England defeating them 3-2 at Wembley that December.
To beat the Dutch, England have to win the midfield battle, as Stanway and Walsh were too exposed against the French trio. Wiegman could therefore move Lauren James to the right wing, and bring in an additional player in the No. 8 spot — either Ella Toone, Grace Clinton or Park would be contenders here. Wiegman may rejig the defence, but the smart money is on her keeping faith with the same quartet, but whatever the team, the group are desperate to put right the wrongs they experienced in their opener.
“I didn’t want to do the press conference today because I’m fed up of talking now. I want to put things right on the pitch,” Stanway said. “Sometimes it’s about blocking out the noise and getting on the pitch and getting stuck in.”
Stanway added that from her perspective, they want to treat France like a bad night out: you simply want to forget it as quickly as possible and plan the next one. The mood inside the camp has been rational, but they’ve also spoken about the importance of communication and eye-contact when things aren’t going to plan. They simply don’t want any of their teammates to feel lonely on the pitch. So it’s back to basics, as they try to put in a performance attuned to their English mentality.
“We want to go back to what we’re good at: go back to traditional style football [and] remembering why we are here and playing for that little girl that wanted to be here,” Stanway said. “Sometimes its about blocking out the noise, getting out on the pitch and just getting stuck in.”
So they’ll keep in mind the tale of 2015, and hope the France defeat was a blip rather than a portent of impending disappointment.
“I think we’re easy to forget that there has to be ups and there has to be downs in tournament football,” Lotte Wubben-Moy said. “And I think it’s how you ride that wave that is really indicative of the mood that will be the lasting one across the tournament.”
Stanway says England have to be brave and ruthless against the Dutch, but really, they just want to be true to themselves. England aren’t used to being in this scenario, but they have mastered knockout football under Wiegman. It’s time for this group to harness that ruthless touch. Rather than be fearful of the pressure they’re under, they must re-establish their own fear factor.
“You can look at this match both ways,” Stanway said. “There is either a lot of pressure because we have to make it work or there isn’t. We know the circumstance. We know what we do best. We’re England. We’re full of English blood. We want to go out there and fight as much as we can and go back to the way we know it.”
